What factor determines whether a missed trigger requires a penalty?

The key to determining whether a missed trigger requires a penalty lies in whether the trigger is optional or mandatory. Mandatory triggers must be acknowledged and resolved as they affect the game state directly, and when they are missed, they typically require a penalty to ensure the game maintains integrity.

In contrast, optional triggers do not need to be resolved if they are missed; players are allowed to choose whether or not to activate them. Therefore, if a player overlooks an optional trigger, there is no penalty since it does not violate the rules or affect the fairness of the game.

Additionally, the nature of the game state, whether the trigger is visual, or the significance of the tournament are secondary to the primary classification of the trigger itself (mandatory vs. optional) when assessing whether a penalty is warranted.